Upcoming AHCA vote a life-or-death decision, writes State Rep. Charlie Brown

INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Charlie Brown (D-Gary) today issued the following “letter to the editor” regarding the American Health Care Act (AHCA):

It is not an overstatement to call this week’s vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA) a life-or-death decision. On Thursday, March 23, the U.S. House of Representatives will determine the fate of the AHCA bill. The outcome could literally save—or risk—many people’s lives. Our Congressional delegation would do well to remember what is at stake.

The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, was signed into law on March 23, 2010. It was passed in response to a public outcry from people who could not afford a visit to the doctor or were caught in a nightmare of health insurance regulations that excluded them from coverage. What resulted is a bill that has provided access to care to over 12 million people, as of 2016.

The ACA requires coverage of preventive services so you can take your kids to the doctor for checkups. It requires insurers to cover people who have pre-existing conditions, so you can’t be denied insurance simply because you are sick. It prohibits lifetime caps on benefits, which kicks the sickest among us off of their insurance plan when they hit a certain cost threshold. It also mandates coverage of birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings and maternity care, a benefit that only 12 percent of individual market plans covered prior to ACA.

Without a doubt, the ACA surely has its flaws. However, our President and Congressional Republicans seem to be focused like a laser on achieving partisan and rhetorical victories and less on solutions and the real world outcomes that will result from this misguided legislation.

For example, there are roughly 400,000 Hoosiers who have coverage through HIP 2.0. That program was funded in large part through the Medicaid expansion provision of the ACA, which allowed states to cover more people with federal funds. The AHCA would cut those funds in three short years, forcing the states to come up with the shortfall or cut people out of the program.

The AHCA also defunds agencies like Planned Parenthood, who provide critical access to reproductive and primary care services across the state of Indiana. As any health care provider will tell you, people across Indiana need more access to health care, not less. This litmus test of ideology has no place in a discussion about health care.

Perhaps most critically, the people hurt most by the AHCA would be those struggling to get by—especially people of color, people with low to moderate incomes, and people who live in rural areas.

As a 35-year veteran of the Indiana General Assembly and a former chairman of the House Public Health Committee, I am gravely concerned about the precedent that may be set by passing the American Health Care Act. If the 2016 election taught us anything, it was that the people of this country expect to be truly represented. They want honest representation from straight-talking politicians who are determined to solve problems, not score political points.

I encourage you to call your US Representative at (202) 224-3121 and explain to him or her that being able to see a doctor and protect your family’s health is not about political victories. It is a matter of human dignity. Tell them to vote NO on the AHCA.